Ready to rock? Shed a few tears? Joni Mitchell cover group performs Saturday in Fair Lawn

You expect Joni Mitchell to be wistful. You expect Joni Mitchell to be deep. You don't necessarily expect Joni Mitchell to pump up the jam.

But Ramsey native Katie Pearlman, who studied percussion at William Paterson University and began her career in jam bands, says her Joni Project is not bringing anything to the music of the iconic singer-songwriter that wasn't already there.

"There are plenty of upbeat tunes on each of her albums," Pearlman said. "When we do 'Night in the City' with the full band, it really rocks. It definitely is lively."

It will be just as lively — but a little more intimate — when The Joni Project takes the stage at the Hurdy Gurdy Folk Music Club at 8 p.m. Saturday, March 4, at the Fair Lawn Community Center. Ordinarily, The Joni Project is an eight piece band. On Saturday it will be four: Alan Lerner (percussion), Mark Mancini (keys), David Berg (guitar) and Pearlman herself on vocals, guitar and dulcimer.

But you can still expect to hear your favorites: "Big Yellow Taxi," "Both Sides Now," "A Case of You." And you can expect lots of tasty soloing and jamming — which will not, however, take the music too far away from the foundation laid down by the one of the key songwriters of the age.

"In the course of the night we try to give everybody space in the music," Pearlman said. "A lot of it is improvised. But we're not changing chords. We're staying true to a lot of what she did in her music, with just some added improvisation and harmonies."

Hard work

The Joni Project, now 10 years old, is in every sense a project, she said.

Learning Mitchell's music involved not only mastering her elusive lyrics, suspended chords and clear mezzo-soprano, but also her unique system of guitar tuning — which varies from song to song.

"She had polio as a little girl and it weakened her hand," Pearlman said. "But I think it was also a creative thing for her."

More:NJ-produced film goes inside Oscar winner 'High Noon' starring Gary Cooper, Grace Kelly

One famous Mitchell song, "Help Me," became a project in itself. Pearlman learned it three times, three different ways.

"The first time I learned many years ago, when I was only playing in the standard tuning," she said. "The second time was a website where people had transcribed a lot of her music and provided a lot of her tuning. And the third time was from a book that had a lot of her catalog. It had a different tuning."

Guitar isn't new to Pearlman. She's been playing since she was a teen — and she now studies classical guitar at the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College. She also writes songs herself.

But when she began her music career, she was a beater, not a strummer. Congas, bongos, djembe, hand percussion — the works. As a matter of fact, she got so good that she gave up college for a practical future: music.

"I had just entered my sophomore year when I had a car accident," she said. "My car got totaled, so I ended up having to get this brand new car that was on a lease, and in order to make those car payments, and the insurance which was a lot, I made the decision to leave school and keep performing and supporting myself that way."

It didn't hurt that the jam band she was playing with, One Eyed Jack, was doing well at the time (she met her husband in the band). At some point, her brother turned her on to Joni Mitchell — the album, "Shadows and Light," happened to have some great percussion — and she was off on a new adventure.

"It's been a big journey tackling this," said Pearlman, who now lives in Long Island with her husband and two children. "Also, it's been something, seeing how this music touches people when we play. Pretty much at every show, somebody is moved to tears. To me, that speaks to her music — how special it is, how moving it is."

Go: Joni Project Quartet, 8 p.m. Saturday, March 4, Hurdy Gurdy Folk Music Club, Fair Lawn Community Center, 10-10 20th St., Fair Lawn, $20 in advance online, $23 at the door (cash or check only); hurdygurdyfolk.org.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Joni Mitchell songs can rock, move you to tears, says NJ cover band